Monday, June 28, 2010

Looks like the "it's ok to sleep on the job" memo has finally been circulated to Metro contractors, as here we see what appears to be an MV Transportation worker taking a little time off for a nap, with the car running. MV Transportation is a contractor that runs MetroAccess, the cost of which has been skyrocketing, leading to budget gaps and fare increases. (h/t Peter)

18 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Wow... too bad the contractors aren't represented by the union. Then Ms. Jeters could come to his defense and tell us all that allowing him to sleep without the car running and the A/C blasting would be us believing in slavery, once again!

@Joshua: off the clock or not, this is not good PR for WMATA on the day of fare hikes. Perhaps he should have found somewhere else to sleep while not burning resources to have air conditioning that even WMATA riders aren't privileged to.

I'm glad he enjoyed the cool interior of a vehicle while releasing all those greenhouse gases. I for one, was stuck at Cleveland Park station watching packed Red Line trains go by for 25 minutes before I shoved my way onto one. Thanks, WMATA! I was sooooo happy to pay extra for this excellent service.

If this guys is NOT on his lunch break, it's unacceptable. But if he is, and we have no way of knowing, maybe we should cut him some slack.

I'm not a Metro defender by any means(dear god I hate Metro), but I did used to take my lunch break in my car, bc if I stayed in my office building (even in the breakroom) I got roped into working when I wasn't being paid. In addition, with someone who drives for a living, maybe we should be grateful that he DID take a nap instead of driving unsafely tired. Silver linings?

To all the "maybe he's taking a lunch" folks. Maybe, but seriously, if Metro wants us to give them the benefit of the doubt, why don't more of them start behaving professionally so we don't go around assuming the worst...and usually rightfully so?!

On top of all the other complaints here about this sleepers actions, i'm willing to bet he is some kind of criminal, ex-con, or has a police record. I'm sure Jeter would love to defend him. She must get some kind of kickback from the criminals in her union.

After an initial investigation, Metro has confirmed that the MetroAccess driver shown in the video was off-duty and on a lunch break. However, it is against policy for MetroAccess drivers to sleep at any time in their vehicles or leave vehicles idling for long periods of time. The driver will be disciplined for violating this policy.

In response to this issue, MV Transportation issued a policy reminder to all drivers this morning (Tuesday, June 29) to remind them that sleeping in a MetroAccess vehicle, whether on or off duty, is not acceptable and that violating this policy will result in disciplinary action up to and including removal from MetroAccess service.

In addition, MV Transportation is reminding drivers that they must comply with local idling regulations (no more than three minutes in the District of Columbia and Virginia, and no more than five minutes in Maryland) unless they are directly engaged in picking up or dropping off a MetroAccess customer.

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